Prestel, Johann Gottlieb (1739-1808) after Raphael: The Descent from the Cross.
 
Etching in brown and aquatint with two tones. Nuremberg 1776. 43 x 31 cms (platemark), 62,2 x 47,7 cms (sheet). Very fine. A print from the series ”Dessins des meilleurs Peintres d’Italie, d’Allemagne, et des Pays-Bas, du Cabinet de Monsieur Paul de Praun à Nuremberg”, consisting of 47 plates and published in 1780.
 
The series reproduces, in actual size, German and Northern Italian drawings in the collection of Nuremberg merchant and humanist Paulus II Praun (1548-1616). It is the first and most impressive of three albums produced by Johann Gottlieb Prestel in collaboration with his wife, Maria Katharina, in which aquatint is used to imitate the manner of a wash. The edition is said to be c. 150 copies.
 
The reproductions were produced to market the entire collection for sale, unsuccessfully, and the cost of production proved a financial disaster for Prestel and his wife.